


Home on the Road

by aintweproudriff



Category: Bandstand - Oberacker/Oberacker & Taylor
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Routine, they are a family, this is pure cheese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 12:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18965437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: When he started packing up his trombone, he looked up to see that Nick had already packed up his trumpet, but Jimmy was still working on the saxophone. A drink (prepared by Davy, because Wayne knew that Davy could be trusted with a few things, at least) found its way to the spot adjunct to Wayne’s right foot, where they put it every night.The band falls into a routine while on tour, and Wayne greatly appreciates it.





	Home on the Road

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a few hours and realized I've missed writing fanfiction! And I've missed this fandom, too.

The green room of the club in Detroit had obviously been designed to look luxurious, but over the years, it had deteriorated into looking trashy. The lights, too dim to see but too bright to be comfortable, turned the items in the room intermittently red, blue, and green. Almost patriotic, but not quite.  
Wayne flopped down on the nearest chair, one with a maroon plush back and shiny metal arms. He closed his eyes, pulled his trombone onto his lap, and tried to take in the sounds of his bandmates, just like he did for a minute after every gig. They were used to it by now, so they knew that nothing was out of the ordinary. 

"Hell of a crowd tonight," Nick said, and Wayne privately rejoiced to hear him laugh in genuine glee. 

"I'll say," Julia replied, and her voice turned to musing. "I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing people singing along with our songs."

"And usually it isn't as loud as it was tonight," Johnny added, exhaustion creeping in on the edges of his audible smile. 

When Wayne opened his eyes, the whole band was sat around him, either in chairs or on the floor. He pulled his handkerchief out of his breast pocket and wiped the sweat off of his forehead before glancing to see where he had put his trombone case. Closest to it was Donny, but frankly he didn't want Donny touching his stuff. Thankfully, Julia was just to Donny's right.

"Julia?" he asked quietly. "Would you pass me my case?"

She smiled and leaned over to grab it, being sure to handle it delicately. He hoped his returned smile was good enough thanks as he took it from her and held it tightly across his knees.   
Nick was already cleaning out the mouthpiece on his trumpet, but Jimmy was across the room from his case and all of his things, so Wayne leaned as far as he could while staying in the chair to grab it and pass it to him. Noticing the quirk of the head that Jimmy gave him upon noticing the sacrifice - deviation from the routine - Wayne smiled calmly. He hoped Jimmy would get the message that nothing was wrong, he wasn't upset, he just wanted to help. He seemed to, and he whispered "thanks," as he took the case. 

The seven of them worked in silence for a few moments. Those of them who had instruments to clean did so. Davy and Johnny worked on making sure all pieces of the drumset were put away, and then set themselves to getting drinks for the band. Julia and Donny took the few moments of silence they could get to sit with each other and file away the setlist. They still looked at it every night, even though they had played it almost twenty times in the past fourteen days.   
Like telepathy, they could point to the name of a song on the list and tell each other what they thought of how it had gone, without saying a word. Wayne couldn't be sure if they had a code or what - he was too busy cleaning his trombone a second time to watch them do it. _Couldn't be too safe_ , he told himself, but sometimes he did the second cleaning quickly or recklessly, just so he could waste extra thought on other topics, like what was waiting for him in just seven more days of being on the road.   
Like Julia and Donny, Emily and Grady had always been able to communicate without words. They knew each other like it was second nature - either of them could order food for the other, understand what was troubling the other, and make a joke at the expense of their mother or father just to humor the other one. It got old quickly for Wayne, but at the same time, it was one of the things he missed the most when he went away like this, or when the kids' mom was taking care of them for the week.   
When he started packing up his trombone, he looked up to see that Nick had already packed up his trumpet, but Jimmy was still working on the saxophone. A drink (prepared by Davy, because Wayne knew that Davy could be trusted with a few things, at least) found its way to the spot adjunct to Wayne’s right foot, where they put it every night. He took a sip and waited quietly for Jimmy, Julia, and Donny to finish what they were doing.   
Maybe at the beginning of tour, his mind had wandered to what was happening at home, or how the seven of them had gotten to this point and how sometimes it seemed like a miracle, but at this point, he was too tired to think if he didn’t absolutely have to. 

“Okay, team,” Donny spoke up once Jimmy had put the sax away. “Since that was our tenth show of tour, we are two-thirds of the way done! Because of that, Julia-”

“Donny and I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick debrief tonight, as kind of a mid-way point,” Julia stole his sentence away from him, but Donny didn’t seem to mind. “How is everyone feeling?”

“Tired,” Johnny was the first to respond, and Wayne nodded in solid agreement. 

“Yeah,” Nick groaned. “I think we all are. Been a long two weeks.”

“Long and hard,” Jimmy spoke up, and rolled his eyes when he heard Davy snicker. “Difficult, I mean.”

"Okay, yeah," Donny smiled weakly. "So maybe we should wrap this up so we can go to the hotel early tonight. And how are we feeling about how the shows have gone?"

Wayne shook his head in disbelief. "They've gone so well. It's really incredible."

"Each one is the best one yet," Davy added. "I keep thinking we won't top the most recent show, and then the crowd is so good, or someone nails a solo, and it gets better."

"I know," Johnny straightened his back against the supports of the chair he sat on. "And at every show, there's a vet who comes to talk to us. I feel like we're connecting with people."

"This sucks," Nick said, and put his hands up when the rest of the group looked at him funny. "Tour sucks, but I don't want to go home next week. We're just doing too well." 

Wayne had to give him some credit, because as much as he did want to go home - mostly to see the kids - this was also one of the best things he had ever done, and he loved the routine of tour. He knew the people around him so well, and they knew him so well, that even when they went ‘home’ next week, it wouldn’t really be home if the band wasn’t with him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll let you in on a secret: I didn't like that story very much. But I enjoyed writing it, so I hope you enjoyed reading it!   
> Let me know what you thought with a kudo or comment, and come talk to me on tumblr @lesbianpomatter or give me more stuff to write @aintweproudriff!


End file.
